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John Maynard Keynes
The Rise of Keynesianism and
Challenges to Keynesianism
The General Theory of Employment,
Interest, and Money
In the classical model, the unemployment
caused by the Great Depression should have
been solved by wage reductions that would
rapidly clear the labor market. However, this
did not seem to be happening.
Keynes argued that market forces are not an
adequate ‘adjustment mechanism’; only
government has the capacity and the
responsibility to stabilize the economy.
•The capacity comes from the government
control of the budget; the responsibility derives
form the imperative of maintaining social order.
•Under conditions of large-scale
unemployment, Keynes argued, there is no
barrier to the increased supply of goods;
equally so, there is a ‘notational’ demand on
the part of unemployed workers for goods (i.e.
they would buy goods if they had the means).
•However, their unemployment precludes their
ability to buy.
The Role of Government
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The role of government is to stimulate
demand through spending in times of
economic slack.
Policy makers should manipulate
government expenditures to achieve a
desirable level of aggregate demand.
In times of economic downturn, this can be
achieved either through lowering tax rates or
increasing government expenditures.
According to Keynes, governments should
incur deficits and borrow money in times of
downturn; these debts can be repaid through
higher taxation in times of economic growth.
What happened to
Keynesianism?
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Government expenditures in the
Depression and post-war years
culminated in the creation of the
‘welfare state’.
After an unparalleled period of
economic growth in the “golden era” of
Keynesianism, the “welfare state” in
post-industrial societies ran into a series
of problems in the late 1960’s and early
1970’s that can be summed up as:
1.
Economic problems
2.
Fiscal Problems
3.
Problems of Government
4.
Crisis of legitimacy
Critiques of the Keynesian ‘social
welfare’ model
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As the ‘post-war’ consenus began to
fall apart in the 1960’s and 1970’s, a
reaction to Keynesianism emerged
on both the political left and right.
This gave way to what today we call
the New Left and the Neo-liberal
Right
Both are extremely important in
understanding globalization
New Left Critique of Keynesian
Welfare State
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ineffective
repressive
causes ‘ideological conditioning’
SOLUTION: restrict capitalism, encourage
grassroots activism (both in economic
and political terms)
The New Left has provided the core of
the anti-globalization movement
New Right (neo-liberal) Critique
of the Welfare State
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inefficient
creates disincentives to invest
creates disincentives to work
SOLUTION: expand markets, reduce scope
of government (programs, regulation,
etc.), decrease taxation.
The neo-liberal right is the most firm
proponent of globalization